


Quiet

by BaffledFox



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Peaceful Death, Retirement, The Good Old Days, happy end, loving relationship, old men being sappy, sad end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaffledFox/pseuds/BaffledFox
Summary: They finally made it to the end of their story.They built a life together, built a house together, got to spend their 'retirement' enjoying everything they had missed out on before.Even if they had years together, it would never be enough.Gabriel wasn't ready for Jack to die.{Personal fic, self indulgent}
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Comments: 10
Kudos: 55





	Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story has been sitting in my drive for a long while. I penned this up when a dear friend of mine passed away. 
> 
> I met him through the Overwatch video game, and we used to play for hours almost every day since I met him. He was a great, amazing, funny guy. One day we played for hours as usual, we said our normal goodbyes, and how we'd play the next day. Except, that night he died in his sleep, completely random and unexpected. That happened almost two years ago now and even finishing this story has been extremely hard for me to complete. 
> 
> But, I really wanted to. 
> 
> Anyway, this is more just a work I needed to pen to finally breathe after what happened. Please enjoy.

It had been years since they decided to buy a plot of land in Indiana. Since they decided to live in the little farmhouse next to the vast cornfields. 

It wasn’t Jack’s family’s farm, but it was close, just a few miles away. Other people lived at his family’s original farm now. Jack’s family had died while he was still playing the hero. He hadn’t inherited the farm because he had also been dead on paper. His vigilante lifestyle after Overwatch’s downfall had stolen that last piece of his past from him; making him a true ghost. 

At one time they had thought to go there, to ask the owners about selling. 

But when they got to the farm, Jack had seen the children playing in the fields, the mother tending to chickens and the father harvesting the vegetables from the smaller garden off the porch. 

He’d stopped in his tracks up the dirt driveway. He’d just observed a little while, and when they had been noticed by the family he didn’t ask about purchasing their farm. To the new family Jack spoke of good times on the farm, how it used to be his family’s farm. But, that was a long time ago, and after the gentle nostalgic conversation they had left whence they came. 

Later, he’d explained to Gabriel that he wanted them to have it. He wanted that farmhouse full of life, of children laughing, of the next generation to care for what his family had built with their bare hands. 

They didn’t have kids. 

During Overwatch hadn’t been the time. There was war, and internal politics. The poison that ate Overwatch from the inside out had taken both of their time and all of their effort. 

When the place literally exploded, well, they both had different plans and ideals after that. 

Not to mention Gabriel had turned into an actual undead monster. He wasn’t even human anymore. How could he show up at an adoption agency barely corporeal with ashy skin and red eyes? 

Jack was just too old now for the fuss of a child’s energy. 

He was frail, slow, and he was going blind. 

Jack had never aged gracefully, but it felt these last few years had been particularly brutal. He had to use a cane to get around, and some days he couldn’t get out of bed. 

When Talon had been laid to rest, and the final secrets of Overwatch had come to light, the two of them decided to finish their feud. 

They decided to pick up where they had left off, over twenty years ago, focusing on buying a house, on getting married, on pretending they were a normal couple and live out Jack’s golden years somewhere peaceful. 

Gabriel had always been a city boy. 

But, he could appreciate the country. Just like he could appreciate the grumpy old man Jack had become. It had been an honor watching the love of his life age, watching him become so vulnerable. He felt so privileged to be able to be this close to his lover, to be able to finally bury the bad blood of the past and finally just exist together. 

It felt like the farm was their own personal slice of heaven. 

Like a timeless world they could both exist in, without the complications of everyday life. They were far enough away from everything, and self-sufficient enough, that they never had to forcibly interact with anyone unless they wanted to. 

But, that remoteness could also feel isolating, and a little lonely. 

“I still can’t believe this is the ending we got.” Gabriel said, sitting back in his wooden porch chair(Jack had made the furniture for their house when he was younger). He had been nursing the same beer for hours, just enjoying the scenery in front of him. At night, like this, the moonlight bled over the landscape, a brilliant silver. Darkening the shadows and illuminating the green fireflies that ducked in and out of grass blades. 

It made everything feel surreal, almost dreamlike. 

“You’ve been saying that for years.” Jack chuckled in the chair next to him, his voice sounded tired, wry. “Are you regretting settling down with me?” 

Gabriel smiled, the flash of his sharp white teeth visible in the dim light, “I’d never regret being with you. I don’t regret settling here either.” He continued, “It just still feels like a dream. That we should really still be out there beating the shit out of each other. Fighting for things that don’t fucking matter.” 

Jack set his own beer bottle down next to the leg of the chair, the click of glass audible in the quiet of the night, “All those things mattered too. Just doesn’t feel like it, now that we got this.” 

“I wish we had gotten here sooner.” He blurted out, and maybe that was his only regret. That he had been so stubborn, so hard headed, that he didn’t see Jack for the longest time. So blinded by his misguided revenge, and his needs in Talon to notice what was most important the whole time. 

Gabriel felt the years behind them had been wasted, until they got here. 

But, Jack didn’t see things that way. He felt everything in life had a cause and effect. The difficulty of the past had to happen for the tranquility of the future they share now. 

“I’m glad we have what we do. Maybe it took too long to get here, but I’m happy it happened.” He said sincerely, breaking Gabriel’s morose mood, “I love this farm, and I’m glad I got to marry you before I got so damn old.” 

Their wedding had been a simple, intimate affair. 

After they had purchased this farm Gabriel had popped the question. Partly, it had been a joke. But the look on Jack’s face, the sparkle in his blue eyes after Gabriel had asked caused the wraith to immediately drop to one knee and make it a real question. 

Gabriel had truly wanted to, he just hadn’t thought Jack would care about it.

He was glad he had been wrong, and the two of them set to plan their wedding on the oak kitchen table Jack had made months before. The kitchen still smelled like fresh cut wood then; and the memory of it was a warm one. How they spread papers scrawled with notes over the top of it, swatches of paint to give them ideas on colors, fresh wild flowers they picked from the fields for thoughts on arrangements. 

When they planned their wedding, it truly felt like a new beginning. That they had really made it. That this farm house and the acres of fields surrounding it was their true nirvana. 

They had invited just a few close friends, had the ceremony out in front of the house. They’d decorated everything themselves, and Ana had officiated the wedding. Angela had made the small tiered cake, white with sunflowers on top. 

They had the wedding pictures hanging in the hallway leading to their bedroom. 

Gabriel was grateful for all the new memories they were creating together. But, as time drew on, he was starting to be worried that memories would soon be the only thing left. 

It was hard knowing that he’d be left when Jack was gone. When everyone was gone. That he’d still be alive, wandering this world, and eventually he’d truly be alone. 

“Gabe?” Jack asked quietly, clearly noticing the silence stretch far too long. 

“I’m sorry.” He said, running a hand down his face, trying to rid himself of the negative thoughts that wanted to flood his brain. “Just have been thinking too much.” 

Jack didn’t say anything, his cloudy eyes focused ahead on the fields he probably couldn’t even see anymore. “I don’t regret any of it.” He cut in gently, “Even the bad parts. I’m glad all of it happened, because all of it meant I got to here, with you.” 

“Yeah.” Gabriel said, nodding as he said it again, affirmed it by reaching to hold Jack’s soft frail hand, “Yeah, I feel the same Jackie. I feel the same.” 

“Good.” He turned to Gabriel, though his eyes never focused. Only able to see dark shapes now, unable to pick out any detail, but Gabriel looked back at him seriously all the same. 

“You look tired.” He said with a slight smile, “Been keeping you up way past your bedtime old man.” 

Jack cracked a smile, gave a soft laugh, “Yeah, I think I do need to go to sleep.” 

“I won’t keep you.” He said, letting go of his hand. 

“Not coming?” 

“Not yet.” Gabriel said, feeling like he needed a little bit more time to collect himself, to just bask in the quiet of the night. 

“Alright, but don’t blame me when I take up the whole bed while you’re gone.” 

He couldn’t help his grin, “No promises.” 

Jack got up from his chair and stretched his back, letting his bones pop, “How about tomorrow we go on a walk?” 

“You think you’ll be up for it?” 

Jack walked towards their front door, opening the screen as he stopped to contemplate with a sheepish smile, “We’ll see.” He conceded as he opened the front door, “Goodnight Gabe.” 

“Night Jack.” He said automatically, just habit really, after all this time spent together. He didn’t even look at the old man as the door shut behind him. He just looked out at the corn fields, still burdened by the inevitability of time. 

Gabriel didn’t know how long he sat out there on the porch, just listening to the sounds of the night; of the insects buzzing and chirping, of the corn fields whispering as they swayed in the gentle wind, the random cry of an animal he couldn’t see. 

Finally, they had found peace together, and he cherished this. 

Gabriel got up from his seat, picked up his own beer bottle, then picked up Jack’s. He walked into the house and locked the door behind him. Inside, the space was dimly lit by the bright moon outside. 

He walked to the kitchen, dumped out the last dregs of beer and placed the now empty bottles on the counter. He shut the curtains at the kitchen window, causing the space to darken, the red of his eyes shining bright as he walked further in. 

Down the hall, past the pictures hung up of friends, family and important events, past the bathroom Jack had decorated to look like a scene from the beach. He’d said to bring a bit of the coast to the country, so Gabriel didn’t feel so homesick for LA. Honestly, it looked silly in a house as rustic as theirs, plopped in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields. 

But, Gabriel had appreciated the sentiment all the same, and Jack had been so proud of his surprise when he showed Gabriel years and years before. 

Finally, he made it to their bedroom. 

The window was open, the breeze coming in was chilly, the thin curtains wafting and reaching towards him like the fingers of a ghost. 

Jack was sprawled out on his back, limbs akimbo, naked except for his underwear. The blue comforter was halfway across his body but didn’t seem to really be covering enough to keep him warm. 

He looked ridiculous, he was always a crazy sleeper, especially without Gabriel to reign him in. 

But, something was off. 

Gabriel could feel it the further he drew in. Something deep in his bones told him this wasn’t--

It wasn’t right. 

Something wasn’t right. 

It was so quiet. 

He couldn’t even hear the insects outside, or the sound of the wind. 

Jack always snored when he slept, and even now his mouth was open and his head tilted back on the plush pillow.

But, there just wasn’t any sound. 

Gabriel felt like the ground was opening up under him, he could hardly gain his footing as he ran to the bed, as he shook the old man. 

Jack didn’t stir. He didn’t acknowledge him. His eyes didn’t open.

Not even when Gabriel started yelling his name, started screaming, the rush of noise in his own ears so loud he couldn’t hear anything else even if he wanted to. 

He carried on for what felt like minutes, hours, days--

But it was probably only seconds. 

Until finally he collapsed next to the bed on his knees, hands on the side of the bed, Jack’s body jostled and moved and unnatural in how it lay there now. 

Jack was gone. 

His vision blurred with tears, but he still couldn’t hear anything but the pounding in his head. He was numb all over. 

Jack was gone. Jack was gone. Jack was gone. 

He reached for his hand, he held it between his own palms. It was cold, stiff, only solidified what he knew but didn’t want to know. 

Tomorrow he’d bury Jack. 

But tonight, tonight he just needed to hold his hand.


End file.
